A strong first half from the Wyong Roos has seen them topple the St George Illawarra Dragons to join them on 24 competition points in the congested Intrust Super Premiership NSW top eight.
Match: Roos v Dragons
Round 20 -
home Team
Roos
7th Position
away Team
Dragons
4th Position
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Sitili Tupouniua was simply outstanding for the Roos with his constant barnstorming runs and in-your-face defence, while Sean O’Sullivan once again played a big role in their victory.
The Dragons opened proceedings with a try that saw two remarkable over-the-head passes. A shift towards the left had Hame Sele throw the ball over his head to Pat Herbert, who then threw it over his head for Reuben Garrick to score.
Wyong then dominated the next period of scoring after Tupouniua made a great line-break that didn’t lead to points, but set the tone for his team. The Dragons coughed the ball up on the next set, and then scored off a beautiful scrum play through Reece Robinson.
It was déjà vu for both teams as the next try came off a scrum in the exact same spot from this field, but this time it was too the left with Mitch Cornish threw a perfect pass for Billy Smith to stroll over untouched.
Robinson scored his second try for the afternoon off the back of more possession that led to a dropout, before O’Sullivan continued his scintillating form by reaching out for a try just before the break.
Kurt Baptiste continued the Roos’ try-scoring form to begin the second half with a crafty run from dummy half to find a small gap and score adjacent to the posts.
The short-term effort was refuted with a long one by Jai Field shortly after, who scored the Dragons’ second try of the day when he caught a bomb, weaved through the defence and ran the length of the field to score an amazing try and reduce the deficit to 28-10.
To once again polarise the previous effort, Dragons scored the next try from right in front of the try-line when Josaia Lovodua saw an opportunity from dummy half.
Luke Sharpe sealed the game in the dying minutes when he received an early pass from Cornish and stepped his way through the defence, before Pat Herbert scored a consolation try with a minute remaining.